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Measuring the Achievements of English Language Learners: A Study of the Learners of Punjab in Pakistan at the Secondary Level

Mamuna Ghani, Ph.D.
Anser Mahmood, Ph.D. Candidate
Muhammad Akram

Abstract

Learning a foreign language is really an uphill task in the true sense of the word. The present study serves the two purposes i.e. on one hand, it shows the learners' achievements based on a test (paper) prepared by BISE (Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education) Sargodha, and on the other hand it explores the pattern of the test (paper) to check the students' potential to learn a foreign language.

1. Introduction

There is no doubt tests are important tools which serve a variety of purposes. A classroom teacher mostly depends upon the achievement tests for measuring the progress of his students in his subject area. The present study is based on an achievement test in the subject of English. English language learning is a craze in Pakistan. But in the student community it seems to be a phobia. Most of the students do not like English language. The present research shows the test pattern and achievement of the learners in the subject of English.

Achievement tests are used to measure the present level of attainment of a testee in a particular subject area. They may also be used to give an index of the present educational or academic status of a testee (Taiwo 1995: 23-24).

An achievement test provides a better chance to assess the attainment of knowledge in various subjects of teaching. They attempt to measure the knowledge, abilities and skills that are the focus of direct teaching in schools.

Measurement is the process of quantifying the degree to which someone or something possesses a given trait (L. R. Gay 1991).

2. English in Pakistan

English is used as an official and second language in Pakistan. English is taught as the compulsory language in Pakistan. English language teaching has been text based in Pakistan.

The teaching of English in Pakistan has been text based since the beginning because the British government policy was to create a class natives who would act as a buffer between the ruler and the ruled as also 5the link between the two (Akram & Mahmood 2007)

English language teachers in Pakistan must approach teaching English as a Second Language from the perspective of applied linguistics. Increase in the number of language teaching institutes and academies along with increasing amount of people to learn English language clearly shows the importance of English.

English in Pakistan serves a gateway to success, to further education and to white-collar jobs. It is the language of higher education and wider education and not the home language of the population except in the upper strata of society where it is spoken as a status symbol (Ghani 2003:105).

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